Contagious Footrot

• • Usually caused by Bacteroides nodosus together with Fusobacterium necrophorum
  • Moisture and trauma allow B. nodosus to enter -> aids bacterial penetration of epidermis -> F. necrophorum invades -> necrosis and inflammation
  • Grossly:
    • Early lesions - red, moist, swollen, eroded interdigital skin
    • Spreads to epidermal matrix of hoof -> separation of horn + malodorous exudate
    • Regeneration attempted as germinal epithelium is not destroyed
    • Chronic infections -> long , misshapen hoof
  • Benign footrot (scald)- only interdigital ski affected, slight separation of heel horn
    • Mostly the type occuring in cattle